Ricky Lamar Hawk, who is better known to the world as Silento, broke his months of silence this week after he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for a connection to the tragic 2021 shooting of his cousin, Frederick Rooks III.
Infamous for his viral hit "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)," his rocket rise while still a teenager has returned him to earth in a courtroom, where he recently pleaded guilty but mentally ill to voluntary manslaughter, along with aggravated assault, firearm possession during a felony and concealing a death.
Now, at 27, the rapper is confronting the harsh realities of life inside Georgia's prison system. But instead of fading behind bars, Silento shared an emotional message through his publicist, Chanel Hudson, opting to speak to the world not in anger but in determination.
"I'm going to stay in this music game and continue to work on me being the best me that I could possibly be," he wrote. "I cannot turn back the clock, but I can serve the time that I have been given, lawfully and make a positive contribution to whatever new environment I find myself in."
It is a raw and somehow even painful confession that makes no effort to excuse itself but favors holding itself accountable. Silento pleaded guilty to firing the gun in January 2021, killing his 34-year-old cousin outside a home in Decatur. His message resonates with that reality, borne out of anguish and introspection.
"For so many years, I responded to fans that I signed when I was 14 and 15 years old and gave them a little bit of advice as much as I could with the following words, 'I came into this business as a kid, and I didn't know what I was doing half the time,'" he went on. "Not an excuse but one thousand percent part of my truth. I'm hoping for change, for evolution, for forgiveness for myself and all of this. God bless y'all."
Behind the scenes, Hudson says that the statement isn't just for show but part of Silento's journey toward making amends and also called on the public to show grace and requested ongoing prayers as the artist grapples with "severe mental health challenges."
Before the shooting, Silento's life was punctuated by a trail of documented psychiatric hospitalizations and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. His lawyers pointed to his erratic behavior in the months before the shooting, which ultimately helped secure the court's acceptance of his plea with the stipulation that he undergo mental health treatment in prison.
While Judge Courtney Johnson's ruling may have ended a chapter in the courtroom, it opened a new chapter in Silento's life, not of stardom but of self-reckoning.
It will not be music from a studio or stage but from inside four walls. And yet, Silento promises to continue making music and changing. It's a complex, dark redemption arc, a bleak one, perhaps, but possibly one in which there's still room for overcoming and, eventually, for a glimmer of healing.
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